The role of the physical environment in formal and informal mindfulness: the sensory retreat experience
The Senses and Society September 2, 2025 Damla Yurttaş, Burçak Altay
Mindfulness retreats cultivate sensory awareness of both natural and built environments, deepening practitioners' presence and practice. Through participatory observation and interviews with nine retreatants, an instructor, and two operators, the study reveals a rich interplay between inner and outer worlds. Sensory expansion, multi-sensory interaction, and perception of spatial interrelations in the retreat setting provide meaningful encounters with surroundings, highlighting the understudied synergy between mindfulness and physical environment.